1. Technical Field
The disclosure generally relates to machines used to disinfect items and, more particularly, to disinfecting enclosures used to disinfect items placed within or passed through the enclosure.
2. Background Information
There is an increasing concern by the users of shopping carts about the level of germs found on the carts. Such germs can be deposited on the cart handle from the previous user's hands, the infant seat from a leaking diaper, or can develop in the cart basket or in the infant seat from leaking food packaging. Each retail and grocery store provides shopping carts used by hundreds of customers and their children each day. Leaky meat packages and leaky diapers are fairly common. Pathogens remain and multiply after the leaks dry. Some studies have shown that publicly-used shopping carts have more germs or pathogens than public restrooms. Numerous studies found E-Coli on more than 50% of carts tested. Exposure to raw meat & poultry products, by riding in shopping carts, increases risk of salmonella and e-coli infections in children younger than three. Existing solutions to these problems include disinfecting wipes provided by grocery stores, disinfecting sprays, washing with soap and water, and providing disposable covers for the infant seat. Some shoppers carry their own covers after becoming aware of the issue.
The issue of disinfecting large equipment is also found with the users of wheelchairs, patient beds, tables, carts, and other shared medical equipment. Wheelchairs used in healthcare facilities and airports are used by multiple people and can collect germs from a variety of sources. Patient beds and beds used with medical testing equipment also can collect germs and need to be disinfected. Such disinfection should lead to lower infection rates and thus better patient experiences at the healthcare facility.
Some of the germs of concern include Methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus Aureus (MSSA), Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus Aureus (MRSA), Escherichia coli (E. coli), Clostridium difficile (C-Diff), A Streptococcus (Strep), and Scabies mite. Widespread use of antibiotics has caused some pathogens to “adapt,” becoming more resistant to treatment and more aggressive in nature.
The number of nursing homes has exploded in recent years and often residents share equipment. Beds, gurneys, wheelchairs, bedside tables, blood pressure cuffs, stethoscopes and more are all used in the care of multiple patients in nursing homes and hospitals. People can acquire a pathogen-related illness while they are in a health care facility and being treated for something totally unrelated to the acquired illness. One study has shown that health-care acquired illnesses (HAIs) in the United States account for more than 140 deaths each day.
Airports provide wheelchair service to move travelers to and from departure and arrival gates. Pathogens travel with passengers and contaminate the wheelchairs they use. Customers and sky-caps are regularly exposed to these health hazards.
In each case, disinfecting shared items with traditional disinfecting methods takes time and is often a “hit and miss” process. Grocery carts and airport wheel chairs may go as long as six months between thorough cleanings. Those cleanings may or may not involve proper use of disinfectants. Equipment in health care settings may be disinfected more frequently, but rarely more than once a day and generally not that often.